Key Concepts in Body and Society

Kate Cregan

Aug 2012 · SAGE

About this ebook

"This is a very useful book outlining the key concepts of the body in society. It is easy to read and provides useful examples, making it ideal for students across a range of social science disciplines."
- Dr Sharron Hinchliff, Sheffield University

"Cregan has achieved something distinct: an account of the sociology of the body which incorporates both theory and empirical studies, which demonstrates excellent coverage of an ever expanding field, and which is written in an accessible style... An intelligent treatment and account of the sociology of the body, which I look forward to incorporating into my teaching."
- Dr Rob Meadows, University of Surrey

"This book is a great idea. It provides a thorough, accessible and interesting introduction to the most important concepts in the sociology of the body. Students new to this area will find it invaluable."
- Professor Deborah Lupton, University of Sydney

This book provides a clear, focused road map to the study of the body in society. It defines, explains and applies core topics relating to the human body demonstrating how we approach it as a social phenomenon. Each concept:

• Includes an easy to understand definition
• Provides real-world examples
• Gives suggestions for further reading
• Is carefully cross-referenced to other related concepts.

Written to meet the needs of the modern student, this book offers the basic materials, tools and guidance needed study and write about the body.

About the author

Kate Cregan is the author of Global Childhoods: Issues and Debates (SAGE, 2014), Key Concepts in Body and Society (SAGE, 2012), Sociology of the Body: Mapping the Abstraction of Embodiment (SAGE, 2006) and The Theatre of the Body: Staging Death and Embodying Life in Early Modern London (Brepols, 2009). The majority of her writing and research is based around understandings of the embodiment across time, space and culture-with particular reference to medical interpretations of the body, medical technologies and the representation in images of the body. Two of her allied interests are ethics (human, social and research) and writing pedagogies, in particular how becoming a writer informs the process of becoming a researcher. She has extensive experience teaching and researching in the humanities and social sciences and recently has co-ordinated the teaching of ethics to medical students across the five years of a medical degree. Currently, she is a senior lecturer in sociology in the School of Political and Social Inquiry, and she runs the interdisciplinary Graduate Researchers in Print writing program in the Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Melbourne.